Kick start healthier habits — BEEF + LAMB NEW ZEALAND

The old adage “it takes 21 days to form a new habit” was coined in 1960. However, we know today it can take much longer depending on your circumstances, what your goals are and the level of support you have. A healthy lifestyle is built up gradually by developing healthy habits over time – some may be established whilst growing up, and some can be new found territory. If you are looking for inspiration on how to live a healthier life, the following points might help you get the ball rolling.

Start simple and realistic. It can be tempting to try and overhaul your whole life, but that will only cause you to become overwhelmed and more likely to give up. Choose one habit to start with and commit to it, but don’t bite off more than you can chew. For example, instead of aiming to “run 5km every single day” (with no prior training), how about starting with deciding to “go on a walk every day or two”. Once you are effortlessly practicing that habit, add another one in. For this example it may involve trying to build up your time spent exercising, distance or intensity.

Add don’t subtract. Sometimes it helps to think about things you can add to your lifestyle rather than remove. This is because a healthy lifestyle is all about balance - doing and eating everything in moderation. For example, instead of wanting to “cut out fizzy drinks all together”, how about you decide to “drink more water”. The two might not exactly align but the latter habit may have a positive effect on the original habit.
Be specific and measurable. Wanting to be “healthier” is a very broad goal and the problem with broad goals is you often don’t know where to start. It pays to unpack any big goals into smaller, specific and measurable goals and ideal habits. A specific and measurable habit, that can help you towards being healthier, could be to ‘have half a plate size of veges at lunch’ or to ‘have a palm size of lean protein at dinner’.
Give yourself time. It might take a few short weeks to stick to a new habit or it could take much longer. It’s possible that the greater the change you’re wanting to make, the longer it might take you, so be patient and kind with yourself.
Focus on progress, not perfection. If you can be a little better today than you were yesterday, consider yourself successful. Being less than perfect can still mean progress, as long as you are able to continue moving forward. It’s ok if you slip up on your new habit, what matters is how you pick yourself back up, reassess, make changes and continue progressing.

Here are our top 7 nutrition and activity healthy habits tips. Of course, they will need personalisation to make them specific, measurable, realistic and time-bound for you, but we hope they will spark some inspiration:

Aim to have at least 5 serves of vegetables a day and 2 serves of fruit. See if you can incorporate vegetables into breakfast and snacks as well.
Try dividing your lunch and dinner plate into ¼ protein, ¼ carbohydrate and ½ vegetables/fruit. For more information on portion sizes click here.
Cook at home and from scratch – this way you know exactly what is in your meals. You can see our wide range of recipes here and see how meat can fit within a week here.
Flavour your meals with herbs and spices. Get creative and see which ones you like.
Stay hydrated and carry a water bottle around with you to help you drink more water. Adults need 8-10 cups of fluid per day (which can also be made up of tea, coffee and milk).
Aim for at least 2½ hours of moderate or 1¼ hours of vigorous physical activity spread throughout the week.
Sit less and move more. You don't always have to do an hour at the gym, or a 5km walk, 10-15 minutes of walking several times across a day can also be effective way to incorporate more movement.